Australia's Lyon and India's Ashwin in confident mood ahead of Test series

Sudhir Gupta 15:21 30/11/2018
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  • Lyon is looking in fine form ahead of the Test battle.

    Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon is in confident mood for the upcoming Test series against India after putting in a fine display in New South Wales’ Sheffield Shield win over Western Australia.

    Lyon picked up seven wickets in total as New South Wales beat Western Australia by 104 runs at the Optus Stadium in Perth, the venue for the second Test between Australia and India.

    The 31-year-old Aussie will now line up for Australia in the opening Test against India at the Adelaide Oval and will hope to repeat his performance against the opposition four years ago when he picked up a 12-wicket match haul at the same venue.

    “If I recreate that it would be amazing. It was an amazing Test match for what cricket can offer. It was a different Indian side back then,” Lyon told The Australian after his side’s Sheffield Shield win.

    “But this Indian side, they’ve obviously got superstars right through from batting to bowling. I’m feeling very good. I’m feeling very confident with the ball at the moment,” he added.

    Ashwin is looking forward to the competition with Lyon.

    Ashwin is looking forward to the competition with Lyon.

    The battle between Lyon and India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will be an intriguing one in the four-match Test series. Both the spinners have performed nearly identically in 2018 so far with Lyon picking up 30 wickets in seven Tests while Ashwin has bagged 32 wickets from nine games.

    With Lyon’s extensive experience of bowling on Australian pitches, Ashwin is hoping to pick up a thing or two from his opposition counterpart in the Test series.

    “We both started our Test careers at the same time so obviously mutual admiration is there. I think he’s done really well over the last couple of years and he’s bowling really well, the ball’s coming out really well,” Ashwin told reporters following the completion of the third day’s play in India’s ongoing warm-up game at Sydney.

    “What can I learn (from Lyon)? Probably just drop the ball in the right spots and probably as the series goes on look forward to a good competition,” he continued.

    The battle of the two off-spinners will commence on December 6 at the Adelaide Oval in the first Test between Australia and India.

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